diff --git a/parser.go b/parser.go
index 7530b3d..493aaad 100644
--- a/parser.go
+++ b/parser.go
@@ -169,7 +169,11 @@ func parseRepetition(defaultMin, defaultMax int, repetition ...int) (min int, ma
 func parseMatcher(matcher string) (alphabet string, ranges [][]rune) {
 	runes := []rune(matcher)
 
-	for i := 0; i < len(runes); i++ {
+	i := 0
+	for {
+		if i >= len(runes) {
+			break
+		}
 
 		if i+2 < len(runes) && runes[i+1] == '-' && runes[i] != '\\' {
 			start := runes[i]
@@ -179,14 +183,17 @@ func parseMatcher(matcher string) (alphabet string, ranges [][]rune) {
 			} else {
 				ranges = append(ranges, []rune{end, start})
 			}
-		} else if i+1 < len(runes) && runes[i] == '\\' {
-			alphabet += string(runes[i+1])
-		} else if runes[i] == '-' {
+			i += 3 // we just consumed 3 bytes: range start, hyphen, and range end
 			continue
+		}
+
+		if i+1 < len(runes) && runes[i] == '\\' {
+			alphabet += string(runes[i+1])
 		} else {
 			alphabet += string(runes[i])
 		}
 
+		i++
 	}
 
 	return alphabet, ranges